Silas Des'Caina
Elven male, born 30 Aut'mo', 862, in Woodstockade. Chief sorcerer of the Woodstockade branch of LandOrder, 912-? Silas, as his surname suggests, is a descendant of Caina, one of the First 50 Elves created by Roderick in 752. Caina, of course, was the second High Sorcerer of the elves, from 792 until her death in 824. There is a common misconception, among outsiders (read: humans) who attempt to understand the well-known resentment felt by Silas Des'Caina toward elven society in general, and magical society in particular. That misconception is that his resentment stems from none of Caina's descendants becoming High Sorcerer, themselves. It can be easily demonstrated that this is clearly untrue. Caina's grandson, Trelane, was the sixth High Sorcerer; and her great grandson's wife, Circe, was the seventh. No, Silas's resentment seems more accurately to stem from the fact that none of them went by the name "Des'Caina". Among the original fifty elves, there were nine sorcerers (ten if you include Roderick, in spite of his being human). However, everyone had more than one occupation; a fact which was quite necessary, in such an underpopulated community. But the one who devoted the most time to the study of sorcery was unarguably Caina. There was never any question that she would succeed Roderick as High Sorcerer, for she was clearly the best. (Caina's husband, Turlough, was also highly regarded, though he had no interest in such titles, and probably wouldn't have attained one if he'd wanted to.) The second best sorcerer was, arguably, Eller, who also happened to be the first Elf Chief (some say he succeeded Caina as third High Sorcerer mostly by virtue of his political clout). The third (if not second) best was Salucin, who became the fourth High Sorcerer, after Eller's death in 832. (Some say he attained this position largely by being so long-lived, but this is of course said only in jest.) The real trouble began when Salucin took a second wife, Presbyd, eighteen years after his first wife, Beryllia, had died. Presbyd was thirty-seven years younger than Salucin; she was the youngest child of Caina and Turlough. In spite of the vast age difference, it is generally accepted that their love for one another was genuine. While Beryllia had borne Salucin only one child (Tomax), Presbyd would bear him two. The first, Trelane, married a girl named Remi in 824. It was at this time that they started the tradition of choosing a surname (eighty years before humans enacted their own surname law). The name they chose was "Des'Rosset", in honor of Remi's maternal grandfather, Rosset. Their children, and more distant descendants, would also bear this name (though some might later change it upon marrying into other families). Meanwhile, Salucin and Presbyd's second child, Dylan, would later marry a girl named Yuki, and take on the name "Des'Salucin", which he passed on to his own descendants. (The Des'Rossets and Des'Salucins would remain close, throughout the succeeding generations.) There is some speculation that Tomax may have resented his father remarrying, particularly to someone as young as Presbyd. In fact, some have even suggested that Tomax may have had feelings for her, himself- and possibly considered himself too old for her (a mere 12 years older, compared to his father's 37 years). Whether or not there is truth to this, it also seems he believed Caina herself was more worthy of being honored than Rosset or any of the other ancestors of Trelane or Remi. (There is in fact some evidence to suggest that Tomax had been estranged from his father even before Salucin married Presbyd, as he had, years earlier, rejected his father's training in sorcery to be taught instead by Caina.) Perhaps ironically, one year after Trelane married Remi and took the name "Des'Rosset", Tomax himself married Sarah, the daughter of Caina and Turlough's firstborn, Devlin. Sarah was twenty-seven years younger than Tomax (not as wide a gap as that between Salucin and Presbyd, but still considerable; and each man had married a woman from the generation which followed his own). Again, it is believed that Tomax and Sarah's love was genuine. In part, this may have been based on shared resentment over the same matters (and perhaps a shared dislike of Presbyd, who was Sarah's aunt and Tomax's stepmother). Sarah herself was estranged from her parents, and apparently from anyone who carried the names "Des'Rosset" or "Des'Salucin". When they married in 825, they chose for themselves the name "Des'Caina", in honor of Sarah's paternal grandmother (who had been a teacher to both of them). Their marriage came the year after Caina's death; she had in fact died shortly before Trelane married Remi and taken the name Des'Rosset; perhaps part of the resentment they both felt was that the others had seemingly snubbed Caina so soon after her death. Although by that time, Rosset himself had already been dead twenty-four years. In spite of Sarah and Tomax's estrangement from most of their relatives, they remained close to Sarah's older brother, Rick, who had married a girl named Anwen four years earlier, in 821. And in 824, Rick and Anwen had taken the name "Des'Merrick", in honor of Rick's maternal grandfather. It's unclear why it didn't bother Sarah or Tomax that Rick chose a surname other than Des'Caina, though it might be the fact that, unlike Trelane, he wasn't a sorcerer himself, and had never studied under Caina. Or it might simply be that in spite of that, he agreed with their resentment. (Anwen herself was estranged from her family, which took the name "Des'Aegis," and who remained close to the Des'Rossets and Des'Salucins.) Tomax and Sarah would have a son named Truman in 827, while Rick and Anwen had a son named Renny in 824. (Truman would be the former couple's only child, while the latter couple would go on to have a few more children over the years.) From that time on, the Des'Caina and Des'Merrick families would remain close, as they ostracized the Des'Rossets and in turn were ostracized by them. Silas Des'Caina is the grandson of Truman. It is also known that at least one of Renny's grandchildren worked with (or for) Silas, in some capacity; and that one of those grandchildren had a son named Brahm Des'Merrick, who came to look at Silas as a father figure. The resentment felt by Silas's great grandfather Tomax has clearly not diminished, but if anything increased over the generations, as each generation has found new reasons to resent their increasingly distant cousins, who have all had far greater success, not only in magical circles, but political and financial circles, as well. Virtually nothing is known of Silas's early life, including who his master in sorcery was. However, it is commonly believed that Silas is at least as skilled a sorcerer as Castor Des'Eller himself. Because of his great skill and his general disdain for elven society, it seemed likely that Silas would be a natural choice when LandOrder opened a branch in Woodstockade, in 903. However, that position went instead to Fyvush Des'Aegis, a very distant cousin of Silas's, and Silas wasn't even hired for any position in the gang. There was a rumor at the time that this was somehow the fault of Demos Royal, though that seems highly unlikely. But in 904, when InterGang opened its own branch in Woodstockade, Silas was hired by the Chief Sorcerer, Bernard Delphi. This was done over the objections of don Emannus Des'Rosset, who obviously had no desire to employ any Des'Caina. However, for unknown reasons, InterGang's capo, Amelia Mysshroudedtery, insisted upon allowing Silas into the gang, for which Silas has remained eternally grateful. When Delphi died in 909, Silas was again passed over for promotion, in favor of Ferris Demontalk. This made Silas ripe for "poaching" by LandOrder in 912, after the death of Des'Aegis. It's unclear why Des'Caina set aside his resentment over LandOrder's refusal to hire him in 903, though some speculate that it had something to do with the gang's own growing dislike for Demos. And in part it may simply have been that he was glad to finally have the chance to become the head of a sorcery department, regardless of which gang it was in. In any event, Silas was surely happy to get out from under the thumb of his despised distant cousin, Emannus. However, Silas's gang affiliations are far from the most interesting aspect of his career as a sorcerer; rather, it seems he's always used his work for gangs simply to finance his own secret project, which he had started years earlier. It isn't known exactly when his project began, but sometime in the mid to late 880s, rumor has it he was contacted by a demon who was dissatisfied with the way Lucifer was running things in Hell. Part of this demon's plan to dethrone Lucifer, so the story goes, included making a deal with Silas Des'Caina to help him create vampyres. Whether the story about the demon is true or not is a matter of debate, but there's no denying the impact that the creation of vampyres has had on the world in general (since their existence was revealed to the world in 916), and the balance of power between the various gangs in particular.... See also *Elven genealogy Category:People